Aaron Kelson is an old friend from our college days at Utah State University. He was getting his masters and I was slowly working on my bachelor’s degree. That’s he and his wife Roxanne in the photo.

During our college days, I was also traversing a challenging journey with cancer which put me out of work. And with no insurance, we quickly racked up tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills. Many people stepped into our lives to help out, including our family, fellow students, and members of our church congregation along with community resources.

We were really touched by an anonymous knock on our door at Christmas time that revealed a box containing all the fixings of a spaghetti dinner and a mason quart jar full of quarters.

Aaron stepped in with a solution that helped me get back on my feet, both physically and financially, by inviting me to partner with him in his lawn care business. Elisa and I scraped a couple hundred dollars from our meager savings and invested in a new Craftsman lawnmower and a used trimmer and edger.

Then I went to work with Aaron.

The constant walking was good for me. Pushing a lawnmower that wasn’t self-propelled up and down the handful of lawns we cut each week helped restore some of the physical strength my body lost through two surgeries and ten weeks of radiation treatments.

One of the greatest benefits was breathing in the fresh spring air. My lungs took a pretty good beating and even walking the short distance from the parking lot to our apartment was laborious and left me winded. Thanks to all the walking in fresh air my lungs regained a good portion of their capacity.

Aaron and I enjoyed many great conversations during our lawn mowing days, sometimes sitting in his old beat-up yellow Ford truck after a job just talking about life.

Our conversations continue today even though he lives much farther away in northeastern Minnesota where he is a professor at Mesabi Range College.

I have been deeply blessed by Aaron’s forever friendship and his continual example of seeking after goodness in people and in life. Such thoughts have inspired this little gem.

GOODNESS SEEK AFTER
By Les Patterson

The paths we travel
Journeys we undertake
Crossroads we reach
Rarely are they random events

One who watches over
Guiding with loving care
Creating opportunities
Yet choices bountifully given

To accept the ability
To confidently make our choice
Exercising the faith to believe
In the unforeseen consequence

Confident yet we can be
In what those choices create
When goodness we surround
And evil we abhor

Rocky times will still show up
Battering relentlessly our path
Yet goodness more consistent
Buffers even the raging storms

Mistakes and shortcomings
Though crimson they may be
The forever love of the Watcher
Will snowy white wash us clean

The choice is always ours
Left alone we will not be
When goodness we seek after
His grace will forever surround

Have a great Monday! Thanks for letting me share!

Les

p.s. Take 13 minutes today to say thank you to one who emulates goodness in your life.

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